Lucchino: Sox brand has 'taken a few hits'

BALTIMORE -- Red Sox CEO and president Larry Lucchino, speaking at Camden Yards prior to Thursday night's Red Sox win over the Orioles, acknowledged that the "brand" of the Red Sox franchise has suffered in recent years, owing in no small part to the fact that the team has failed to make the playoffs since 2009. However, he vowed that the Sox would repair their image.

"Every franchise, every brand goes through roguh times. No one is immune to the hills and valleys. We’ve had a long run of success. We’ve created very high expectations for the franchise. Sometimes those high expectations are not met, and the result is a reduction, a hit to the brand and to the team and to the fan base. If it’s broke, we’ll fix it," said Lucchino, who was joined by principal owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner in Baltimore after flying from the owners meetings in Denver. "So much of the brand is a reflection of the competitive success we’ve had over the last 10 years and a few years ago, we were coming off a not-too-distant world championship, we were coming off playoff participation. The brand, a significant component of it is on-field success. We’ve taken a few hits but there are still passionate Red Sox fans everywhere.

"I ran into one walking out of Coors Field last night. A woman who worked for the Rockies lived in Worcester came up and hugged me and said, 'I still love my Red Sox.' I said, 'You’re wearing a Rockies shirt.' She said, 'I work for the Rockies, [but] I’m from Worcester. I still love my Red Sox.' We have to be sure we remember the cynical jaded media does not speak for … they don’t necessarily capture the voice of the fan base."

This Red Sox ownership group had to deal with repairing its franchise brand once before, at the time it purchased the franchise at the start of 2002. At that time, the Sox were widely viewed as a dysfunctional organization both on the field and off.

"The end of 2001 was a very tough, kind of a low point for things," Lucchino recalled of the situation the Sox ownership group inherited. "It was helpful. We recognized that no organization is consistently positive, winning over time. There’s going to be some tough times, some difficult seasons. We just haven't had that many of them. We don’t have to look back that far for us to see some of those things in the recent past. If it’s broke, we’ll fix it. We have the baseball experience and the passion to do it and the organization."

For complete Red Sox coverage, visit weei.com/redsox.